Reconceptualising professional experiences in pre-service teacher education…reconstructing the past to embrace the future

This paper provides a conceptual framework for developing high-quality professional experiences for pre-service teachers. The paper begins with a discussion of how professional experiences are conceptualised, structured and supervised in each of three orientations, which we have termed traditional, reflective and learning communities. We then describe a number of professional experience initiatives at two Australian universities, which are being reconceptualised around the notion of learning communities. We argue that framing professional experience around the notion of learning communities has the potential to support pre-service teachers to work with their peers and mentor teachers in more collegial and reciprocal ways.     

Exploring the real-world decision-making of novice and experienced teachers

For the past two decades, those involved in teacher training have encouraged teachers to incorporate evidence from research into a process of critical reflection to improve the quality of their decisions. Using research as part of a deliberative reflective process has been thought to enable teachers to learn from their practice. However, teachers’ decision-making has proven highly impervious to external influence. Teachers often resist reflective models that attempt to take their thinking to deeper, critical levels and are unlikely to use empirical evidence to inform their decisions. Given these conditions, this study seeks further insight into teachers’ pedagogical decision-making amidst the complex dynamics of ‘real-world’ educational contexts. Based on a systematic review of over three decades of decision research, a questionnaire was developed to investigate the decision process of 80 pre- and in-service teachers working in the post-compulsory sector. Data were analysed to uncover how these teachers made sense of the range of information that came into play when deciding how to resolve a pedagogical issue and the sources they used to inform their decision-making. If those involved in pre- and in-service teacher training could build upon teachers’ intrinsic decision processes, they could potentially support greater decision effectiveness.     

A teacher educator’s lessons learned from reflective practice

This article has two major goals. The first is to establish a distinction between the idea of critical reflection (as required today in many teacher education courses) and the concept of reflective practice (as set out by Schön in the context of active professional practice). The second is to present some of the important lessons a teacher educator has learned from reflective practice (not critical reflection) during 40 years of work with pre-service teachers.     

Lamaze certified childbirth educators: drawing strength from our past to build the future

This year's 50th anniversary of Lamaze International is a time to reflect upon our past and present as we work together to build the future of childbirth. In the 1950s and 1960s, thoughtful men and women such as Elisabeth Bing began to look carefully at the birthing practices in the United States. Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educators became leaders in improving birthing practices by teaching women and their partners the truth about how women were cared for during childbirth. Currently, the rise in maternal mortality and morbidity in the United States illustrates the pressing need for more changes. Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educators are leading change by pushing for the wide adoption of Lamaze International's Six Healthy Birth Practices to promote natural, safe, and healthy birth.     

Learning from School-based Teacher Training: Possibilities and constraints for experienced teachers

This article presents findings from a study of teachers' development conducted in a large English 'comprehensive' school during a period of intense educational reform. In particular, it considers the ways in which experienced teachers contributed to and claimed benefit from a new national system of school-based initial teacher training (ITT). In addition to outlining the professional development possibilities for experienced teachers involved in school-based ITT, the article highlights a range of factors that appeared to constrain this development. By drawing on the English experience, the paper considers the implications of recent Danish policy related to school-focused teacher education, both in terms of the potential benefits for experienced teachers from involvement in such training, as well as more generally in terms of the quality and appropriateness of such forms of teacher preparation.     

Layers and links: Learning to juggle ‘one more thing’ in the classroom

This paper presents a model—hypertextual function—to consider teachers’ thinking, practice, and development in the use of technology. Hypertextual function is a multi-dimensional model linking a teacher's knowledge about students (familiarity) and technology (facility), with a teacher's teaching practice of integrating technology with content (transparency) and across disciplines and experiences (connectivity), and a teacher's sense of support (collegiality). Additionally, a teacher's context affects each of these. Such a model is important as technology becomes more pervasive and integrating technology into classrooms adds another layer of complexity to teaching. Case studies and graphic representations of the proposed model are presented.     

Consensus and dissensus in mentor teachers' judgments of readiness to teach

Deciding whether a teacher candidate is ready to teach is a significant judgment about which little is known. In this study, Social Judgment Theory's lens model is used to analyse grade decisions made by 18 primary school mentor teachers who were provided with four vignettes of fictional teacher candidates' practicum performance. Mentor teachers' grade decisions, and their reasoning, showed evidence of some consistency but also significant dissensus. We argue that such dissensus is inevitable in complex social decision-making and therefore needs to be used productively to help make more reliable judgments.     

A critical evaluation of the usefulness of a coding scheme to categorise levels of reflective thinking

The use of reflective learning journals to encourage higher order learning outcomes is a growing area in higher education research and practice. However, without a unified and clear definition of reflection, identifying and assessing reflection is problematic for educators. In an attempt to address this issue, in 1999 Kember and colleagues devised a coding scheme based on the work of Mezirow, to identify and assess levels of reflective thinking in students' written journals. We evaluated the usefulness of this coding scheme in a business education context. Findings revealed that the scheme was useful in identifying categories of reflective thinking. Inter‐coder agreement was 0.802 which is satisfactory. On average, 65% of the journal content was coded as non‐reflection and 35% as reflection. A further outcome of the research was to refine the coding scheme and to provide suggestions for its application in teaching practice.     

虚拟学习社区环境下教师协作学习的问题与实证

教师培训作为促进教师专业化发展的重要途径,当前主要存在培训主题“行政化”、培训形式单一化、培训内容理论化、培训时间间断化和培训受益面相对窄化等弊端。虚拟学习社区环境下协作学习为教师专业发展提供了一条可持续发展的途径。虚拟学习环境下教师协作学习的理论基础包括支架理论、替代性学习理论和群体动力学理论,协作学习的类型可分为机械协作和有机协作两种。为了探究虚拟学习社区环境下持不同活动策略的主持者在促进教师协作学习的互动效果及其差异,项目组实施了案例研究,结果表明：在活动主持者动机水平一致的情况下,持解答式活动策略的主持者比持启发式活动策略的主持者更能促进教师协作学习的互动效果;教师在学习活动中应重视角色的作用,关爱学生的内心体验,重视自身学习能力的提升。     

构建网络环境下教师学习共同体——教师专业发展的创新途径

教师专业发展是当今教育改革的主要议题。本文通过探讨学习共同体本质及教师有效学习的内涵,指出网络环境下教师学习共同体是支持教师专业发展的理想平台,进而分析了网络环境下教师学习共同体中影响教师学习的关键因素和教师学习机制,最后给出了构建网络环境下教师学习共同体建议和策略。     

基于教师专业发展的教师学习研究

教师学习是促进教师专业发展的基础和前提。但是当前对教师学习的认识和理解还比较欠缺,比较狭隘。通过对教师学习的概念进行一个历史的梳理和内涵的解析,可以转变人们对教师学习的狭隘理解和认识,突出教师学习对教师专业发展的重要性。     

JET : Directions for the future

Researching can be viewed as a way of analysing issues of schooling by linking theoretical knowledge with perceptions of educational reality already during teacher education. Not only does practicing teaching provide a context for analysing instruction, learning, school culture, diversity, or any other issue related to schooling, also researching these issues provides future teachers opportunity to view schooling as complex and problematic. This case study surveyed and interviewed a group of recently graduated teachers who had worked as teachers during their education. The interest was on their experiences of M.A. thesis research as well as the integration of theory and practice during the education. The respondents had experienced researching as useful as well as meaningful, although they also had development ideas concerning it.     

Framing the roles and responsibilities of Excellent Teachers: Evidence from Malaysia

This paper is based on a study of the roles and responsibilities of Excellent Teachers, as described by the teachers themselves and their role sets (Merton, 1957). The data collected via semi-structured interviews with the teachers were triangulated with documents which show official expectations of Excellent Teachers. Data were also compared with interviews carried out with other teachers, school administrators and the inspectors, to provide a 360-degree view on the roles and responsibilities of Excellent Teachers. Five themes emerged from the data analysis, respectively focusing on their roles as teacher, content expert, facilitator, mentor, and innovator.     

Distilling wisdom from practice: Finding meaning in PDS stories

Much of what has been written about the Professional Development School (PDS) experience consists of recounting personal experiences. However, these accounts often offer little to readers since they are neither good research nor good storytelling. In this article I draw on mythology, folklore, psychology and literature to suggest that effective storytelling can serve the same function in nurturing PDS culture as it does in the maintenance of culture in general. After identifying potential story elements in the PDS experience, I propose ways in which to borrow from various literary genres to create PDS stories that are more engaging and meaningful.     

Lesson Study with preservice teachers: Lessons from lessons

This article examines a 2-year process of integrating Lesson Study—a form of teacher-led professional development—into an introductory course on the principles of teaching for students majoring in early childhood education. The course is taught in conjunction with beginning practicum work in area schools. We describe obstacles, modifications, and outcomes as we adapted the Lesson-Study process to help preservice teachers pay closer attention to instructional strategies (such as questioning techniques, anticipating student responses, and how lesson flow affects student understanding), and become more comfortable with constructive criticism by focusing on the lesson plan rather than the teacher.     

Mathematics teachers’ “learning to notice” in the context of a video club

This study examines changes in teachers’ thinking as they participated in a video club designed to help them learn to notice and interpret students’ mathematical thinking. First, we investigate changes in teachers’ talk about classroom video segments before and after participation in the video club. Second, we identify three paths along which teachers learned to notice students’ mathematical thinking in this context: Direct, Cyclical, and Incremental. Finally, we explore ways the video club context influenced teacher learning. Understanding different forms of teacher learning provides insight for research on teacher cognition and may inform the design of video-based professional development.     

我国现代远程教师继续教育政策探析

我国对高质量、国际化教育模式的追求,致使广大教师不断参加继续教育以提高自身的综合素质。现代远程教育以其不受时间、空间的局限,信息资源储备量大以及知识更新速度较快等方面的优势,正逐渐成为教师开展在职继续教育的首选形式。在此背景之下,对于远程教师继续教育政策构建与完善的诉求也不断加强,导致了我国现有相关政策体系的变迁。从理论和实践两个层面来审视我国这一政策变迁的背景,可以凸显其重要性和必要性;而通过考察变迁过程中政策的现存问题以及问题的成因,则有助于我国相关政策体系的进一步完善和规范,进而保证其健康、可持续地发展。     

Breaking Free from the Needs Paradigm: A Collaborative Analysis of Inclusion

ABSTRACT

This self-study, based on research, conducted over five years, focuses on my leadership role employing an inclusion model of education in a school in Iceland serving students from ages 6 to 16. In this article, we examine how Edda’s practice helped support inclusion for the students, their families, and the teachers who engage with them. This multilayered self-study research project included feedback and insights from others in order to inform my understanding of my practice within the context of inclusion. Findings reveal Edda’s focus on the discourse of diagnosis as a dominant structural issue within her practice. The resulting themes on perceptions of inclusion, coordination of support, deployment of people, and collaboration across different entities have informed my understanding about my practice and my perspective on the meaning of a support system within inclusive education and improved student performance.     

Professional experience: learning from the past to build the future

The title of the 2014 Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) conference was Teacher Education, An Audit: Building a platform for future engagement. One of the conference themes was Professional Experience: What works? Why? I seized upon this theme and the title of the conference as it afforded me an opportunity to do an audit of my research in professional experience over the last 25 years. This article presents this evidence base and the messages I have taken from this evidence. I have done this in the hope that, by collating some of the insights gained from the past and the present, it will help to “build a platform for future engagement” in professional experience. In preparing this article I was asked by the Editors to reflect also on how I developed my distinctive line of inquiry and expertise in relation to the practicum across an extended period. These reflections are included. I hope they will support university-based teacher educators in enhancing their satisfaction and achievements from working in this stimulating and provocative field of study.     

Science Professional Learning Communities: Beyond a singular view of teacher professional development

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are frequently being used as a vehicle to transform science education. This study explored elementary teachers' perceptions about the impact of participating in a science PLC on their own professional development. With the use of The Science Professional Learning Communities Survey and a semi-structured interview protocol, elementary teachers' perceptions of the goals of science PLCs, the constraints and benefits of participation in PLCs, and reported differences in the impact of PLC participation on novice and experienced teachers were examined. Sixty-five elementary teachers who participated in a science PLC were surveyed about their experiences, and a subsample of 16 teachers was interviewed. Results showed that most of the teachers reported their science PLC emphasized sharing ideas with other teachers as well as working to improve students' science standardized test scores. Teachers noted that the PLCs had impacted their science assessment practices as well as their lesson planning. However, a majority of the participants reported a differential impact of PLCs depending on a teacher's level of experience. PLCs were reported as being more beneficial to new teachers than experienced teachers. The interview results demonstrated that there were often competing goals and in some cases a loss of autonomy in planning science lessons. A significant concern was the impact of problematic interpersonal relationships and communication styles on the group functioning. The role of the PLC in addressing issues related to obtaining science resources and enhancing science content knowledge for elementary science teachers is discussed.